Zero Day Exploit
by The Assassin's Pen
Summary: It's only a few days before Halloween when Sarif Industries suffers a new kind of attack. Phantom code is scrolling the walls and the power is inexplicably down. The only light comes from an unknown source, bathing Sarif HQ in a nuclear green. This would normally be cause for calling in Pritchard...too bad he's the target of the attack. A team-centric cyberpunk Halloween story.


This story came in part because of wanting to write a Halloween themed Deus Ex fanfiction. The other part came from my absolute love of Ukenceto's (their tumblr is under the same name) design for Pritchard. Their art is amazing and they have a wicked cool interpretation of what Pritchard's hacker presence, nucl3arsnake, looks like. They gave me permission to borrow the design, and I was ecstatic. See the design here: The tumblr post number is 122430782429, since this site won't let me post links.

Happy Halloween! I recommend making a spooky techno playlist to listen to while reading, it sure made the writing more fun.

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"I don't think it looks right."

Adam sighed, leaning precariously far over on the ladder as he adjusted the fixture. He glanced down at Malik. "Better?"

Malik had her arms crossed and he head cocked part. She was chewing on her lip again.

Adam slumped against the ladder and dropped his arm. The wire pumpkin bumped obnoxiously against the rungs. "Malik quit that you're going to chew them off before we get anywhere near being done."

She straightened, huffing into her bangs, which hadn't been trimmed in a while and were starting to curl around her ears at the sides. "Okay fine, coffee break."

"What! No—" Adam held up the hook he'd been trying to position in the ceiling for the last fifteen minutes. "I'm already up here let's hang the stupid lantern so we can finish this."

"You can climb back up the ladder when we're done, it's not _that_ far."

Adam hooked the lantern on one finger and leaned over the ladder at Malik, narrowing his eyes at her. "Not the point. You were the one who planted that company Halloween party worm in Sarif's ear. We are both here on our day off to get this thing set up. Now it's happening and I'm already up this ladder so hang the lantern or I'll hang it for you in the most annoying place I can think of."

"Okay okay," she said, waving both hands. "Hook it just left of that panel and then get down. I want coffee."

Adam planted the hook and hung the lantern, twisting wires together until it lit up a soft golden orange. The light slipped over his sleek prosthetics as he gratefully hopped off the ladder and moved it to lean against the far wall. Malik joined him at the corner of the ballroom, a critical eye on their progress. After two hours of hanging lights and wiring holographic projectors Adam was very inclined to stamp their work with "good enough". Malik…well, Malik had drawn up the decoration and booze budget until David had approved it.

Adam hadn't known she was so into Halloween. "How many years have we worked together?" He asked when she came over with a bottle of whiskey and a proposition to have him help her decorate. "Why haven't you done something like this before?"

She shrugged, pouring a glass and handing it to him. "We always do a Christmas party, but that's more a marketing platform for David to get new contracts. What's wrong with a company only party?"

"Halloween though?" Adam said, taking the glass and raising an eyebrow.

"I like Halloween. And it's as good a time as any. We just finished a major marketing period, Sarif's in a good mood, we have a breather before the next major project, I think we should celebrate."

So they were. And Adam really didn't mind helping. If he wasn't with her he didn't do much on his days off, so why not? After she'd moved the lantern six different times however, he was starting to get exasperated. She was the one wearing black jeans and a purple glow in the dark bat tank top. She'd even put temporary orange streaks in her hair for the party. Adam thought if she liked Halloween that much _she_ should be the one up the stupid ladder. He snaked an arm through hers and turned her away from inspecting the room.

"No," he said flatly. "The party is tomorrow night. No more re-arranging. The bartender is showing up in an hour and I'm not painting black light signs with weird martini names. If you're re-stringing the rope lights I'll get stuck with it. I draw the line at writing things like "werewolf nipple" on little black cards. Coffee, then we're coming right back and I'll test the drinks while you decide what to call them."

She snorted with amusement and shook her head.

Adam was perched on the bar stool, leaning against the polished mobile bar while Malik discussed and made signs with the bartender. He was half-way through a "rotten apple" martini and watching Malik get paint on her forehead with an absent minded hand with amusement, wondering when or if he should tell her. An ancient _Alien_ re-run was playing on the opposite wall. He was getting a serious kick out of the terrible effects. When he straight up burst out laughing at the wormy alien scurrying across the dinner table Malik shot him a disapproving look.

"Oh come on Malik, the effects are so bad this is practically a comedy at this point."

" _Alien_ is a classic," she said, pointing her brush at him. "Respect the classics."

"Why are we the only ones doing this, anyway?" he asked, spinning his barstool around and propping both elbows on the bar. "Where's Pritchard?"

"He had to work late," she said, glancing at her watch. "He should be off about now though. You wanna go bug him? I bet we could get him over here if I promised to let him code the hologram projector and the DJ booth."

Adam shrugged, finishing his martini. "I'm always up for bugging Pritchard."

Sarif Industries was a golden glow at all hours, and with the rainy October atmosphere it stood out among the dark buildings surrounding it even in late morning. Adam and Faridah climbed the steps and passed through the glass doors into the lobby, arguing good-naturedly as they headed for Pritchard's workroom.

Half way up the stairs all the power suddenly cut out and the brightest building in Detroit was plunged into complete darkness.

"Woah—" Malik said, murmurs from other startled employees filling the dark. Malik and Adam had both frozen, but Adam's heart had started beating furiously hard. His instincts identified the issue before his brain put a label on it. The emergency lights, hooked into a backup generator and on a separate line completely were not on.

This was an attack. He closed both fists, holding one up as a burst of gold energy warped around his knuckles and forearm, providing a temporary light. He re-thought his command and tried again, holding his closed hand aloft and using the cycle of Icarus energy as a torch. "Malik, get outside, get the cops," he called back, already sprinting up the stairs. He didn't look to see if she'd listened. He just ran, dodging past the startled faces of the second floor staff.

If this was a cyber attack, Pritchard would be in the middle of it.

He turned hard into Pritchard's office at a full sprint, grabbing the doorframe and swinging around it to come to a skidding halt. His chest was heaving and his eyes were darting around, glowing fiercely with analyzation software. The arcs of light swarmed his hand in a visual panic, throwing a wild light on the destruction around him.

Pritchard's lab had been destroyed. Every computer was smashed and his soldering bench and motorcycle were in pieces. Across the wall where his shelves and Final Fantasy poster normally hung the word "m0ng00s3" was grafitied in vibrantly blue spray paint. It was still wet.

Just below the word Pritchard was laying crumpled on his side, and he wasn't moving.

Adam sprinted over to him, dropping to his knees and turning the hacker gently onto his back, feeling for a pulse even as his visual software switched to medical scanning. "Francis? Francis can you hear me?" Adam said firmly, shaking Pritchard's shoulder a little. He wouldn't rouse, and Adam was very worried about the unsteady feeling beneath his fingers. Whatever Pritchard's heart was doing, it wasn't healthy and it wouldn't keep him alive for long. Adam's vision flashed a momentary red as a warning flit across his retinas.

 **Unstable cardiac rhythm. Arrest imminent.**

Adam cursed softly and looked around, hoping the defibrillator was still in its place. It wasn't, and he didn't have time to waste looking for it.

"Sorry about this, Francis," Adam said, spreading the hand that was still sparking with the Icarus light. He pressed it into the center of Pritchard's chest and gave the charge a little boost. He could feel the tingle as the electricity rushed through his body, and for a moment nothing beat against Adam's glowing palm. He held his breath, waiting for the hacker's heart to correct itself.

 _Please please please, come on Francis you're too obstinate to die…_

A pulse hit his hand and Adam's shoulders slumped, his breath releasing harshly through his teeth.

 **Sinus rhythm established. Signs of cardiac damage. Consult medical assistance.**

"Adam, what in the world is going on over there?" David's voice suddenly came through Adam's infolink, at the exact same time that a line of eerie lowlights flickered awake along the walls. "I've been trying to contact you ever since the power outage. I'm at home but I saw the lights go down."

"I wasn't getting your signal, there must have been some kind of block," Adam said, turning Pritchard gently on his side in the recovery position, keeping one hand on the tech's shoulder as he glanced around the lab for clues. The only one he had so far was that the phrase on the wall was still wet, and it looked like a hacker's handle. "This is an attack, I just don't know what kind," Adam continued. "Pritchard is unconscious, someone must have electrocuted him. His heart stopped for a few seconds but it's beating alright now. So far I haven't seen anyone else hurt but the power is still out everywhere." Adam paused, his brow furrowing. The lights that had come on near the floor weren't part of the backup system. They were new, or at least never lit before.

And they were bright green.

One glance out into the hall told him that was the entire building. It had gone from its normal golden glow to a piercing, nuclear green. "David, are you looking at the building right now?"

"Yes."

David's voice sounded strange…uncertain.

"You don't know where the green light is coming from either, do you?" Adam said.

"No. I've never seen anything like that in my life."

Out of the corner of Adam's eye, Pritchard twitched weakly, and beneath his right eyelid a ring of bright green flashed before dying away. The whole building flickered as if in answer, and Adam felt a cold uncertainty trickle down his back.

Pritchard was taken to Detroit Medical and placed in a special wing where a police guard could watch him. Adam met David outside Francis' room, folding his arms.

"So the cops didn't find anything at the plant?"

David shook his head, staring into Pritchard's room at the machines monitoring him. A nurse was with him, doing a thorough brain scan with holographic imaging that splayed red light all over the room.

"No. Nothing was taken, nobody was found, and no one was attacked besides Francis. Of course, the power won't come back on either and all we have is that green glow. I've evacuated the building and the cops have come and gone so now I have a gridlocked ghost town and no answers." He folded his arms tightly and his jaw clenched. "Even an external scanner can't get into the wiring and access our security tapes or our corporate files. Every time we try there's just lines of code and this flashing mix of blue and green that I can't make out. I had Pritchard's secondary look into it but she's baffled." David shook his head. "Whatever this is, it's clearly a code-level attack, which means information. Maybe about the typhoon, maybe about our employees, who knows with the current political climate." He rubbed his forehead and grimaced.

"The cops couldn't even find evidence of who wrecked the lab, so they're useless. As usual." He sighed, turning to Adam. "I don't want them poking around there anyway. I want you to go back, see if you can't use some of your hacking software to interface with what's left of Francis' files. Maybe even the security camera, if there's anything left of it. Pritchard modified your software, maybe it can get through code standard stuff can't."

Adam released a long breath through his nose, his brow furrowed as he looked in on the comatose hacker. "Let's hope. Let me know what the doc says."

Adam walked around Pritchard's office three times before he finally picked the chair off the floor and righted it. He sat down and scooted into the desk, trying to picture the layout of the attack. All that was left of Pritchard's workspace was a shattered keyboard and a slew of papers that were usually there anyway. He sighed, frustrated that he wasn't finding any more than the cops had. Nothing had power but the mystery lights, and no matter what Adam did external power wasn't going through. There was an invisible firewall around everything.

"Adam?"

"Malik?" he said, straightening up as her voice came in over his infolink. "Where are you? I couldn't find you after you went for help."

"I talked to the cops for over an hour, but now I'm with Francis at the hospital. David is taking care of press but I didn't think Pritchard should be alone. I…I wanted to tell you how he's doing."

Adam swallowed. Malik didn't sound right. "What is it, Faridah?"

"Well the good news is the electrocution didn't do any lasting damage to his heart. The bad news—he's in a coma, Adam. And it's not like any coma the doctors know what to do with. They'd say he's brain-dead except there's still spikes on more than just the parts of his brain controlling his vitals. They don't know what to make of it—he has more scans in an hour. It's like…" she hesitated, as though unsure of how to phrase it. "It's like he's left his body."

Adam's jaw clenched and he felt a streak of righteous fury plunge hot through his center. They'd barely gotten Sarif back together after the terrorist attack and they were on the verge of losing one of their own again. "Thank you Malik," he said softly, his hands clenching against the desk. "Keep me posted."

He ran his hands through his hair and propped his elbows up on the desk, staring ahead and trying to make himself think. There had to be a clue somewhere. Something was going to lead him to the attackers, something was going to tell him how they'd gotten past the best security in Detroit. Something…

A reflecting glow caught his attention. Near where he'd found Pritchard the cracked glass of a pocket secretary was flickering weakly. It was the only thing still holding power in the entire building and Adam scrambled to it, the hacking node at the base of his thumb lighting in a bright blue ring when he scooped it up. Before he knew it code was flying across his vision and the ring on his hand had turned green. He blinked, startled as the code abruptly stopped and his vision flickered like a monitor re-setting itself. The pocket secretary flared in his hand and the three-petal nuclear symbol appeared on its surface.

The word nucl3arsnake clicked across letter by letter and then blinked three times as though scanning. Suddenly, the secretary turned blue and Adam's hand went back to normal as a new message typed itself in.

 **User al3xmurphy recognized. Hello, Jensen.**

Adam stared at the secretary. "Francis?" he whispered, incredulous.

 **Not quite.**

The cursor blinked for a moment, then began typing again.

 **Look up.**

Adam obeyed, startling backward as green lines fizzled in the air before him, shuddering into focus and clicking together in a haze of three-dimensional static. A flash of green light went floor to ceiling and suddenly, standing in a tangle of holographic code and cable, was a long-haired specter.

Green and black, shimmering like a broken computer terminal, the figure stood a little taller than Adam himself, its head tilted down to stare him in the face. It had no eyes or nose, only the nuclear symbol in the center of its head. Below that a needle-toothed grin went from one corner of its jaw to another. Long hair drawn back into a ponytail hung in tatters around its face, and its fingers played idly with the code wrapping slowly around its forearms and legs like electric snakes. It was male in base form, the lines of its body long and sleek with muscle.

It tilted its head and clicked its teeth with a sound like dial-up. Words glitched into the air between them.

 **I am nucl3arsnake. Welcome to my plane, Adam.**

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I intend to post chapters until this is finished hopefully on Halloween.


End file.
